First Kit Build - Strat

[enikoy]

Relic away I say. Just not to the point of abused or dragged behind a car like some relic jobs.

That body's grain pattern demands a translucent Olympic White "Mary Kaye" style.

[CascadiaGuitarGeek]

If you want to have a guitar that looks relic'ed then give it a shot. Some experimentation is part of the fun of kit building. As others have mentioned just choose your type of finish accordingly. Also don't over do it! You can always take off more finish, but you can't put it back on.

[Simon Barden]

Well, you can put it back on, but it isn't easy and is normally easier to strip everything back and start again if you want it to look good.

[Nick11]

Thanks for all the comments/tips everyone - surprised (and pleased) to see all the support for relicing!
I'm going to spend this weekend planning out the project and working out what hardware/paint etc to go for. Does anyone have recommendations on brands for hardware or paint as well as places to buy them from? I'm in Adelaide so if there's shops here then that'd be great but I'm guessing I'll more likely be looking at Australian online retailers

[Fretworn]

If you are set on relic-ing try and buy or borrow a copy of this book. He goes into detail on one of the builds on how to approach it, including ageing the hardware.

[Simon Barden]

I've mentioned it before, but the workshop section of The Guitar Magazine's website has a lot of re-build and ageing projects and is well worth a browse. http://www.theguitarmagazine.com/workshop/

[JohnH]

I've mentioned it before, but the workshop section of The Guitar Magazine's website has a lot of re-build and ageing projects and is well worth a browse. http://www.theguitarmagazine.com/workshop/

Good link, Simon. Cheers.

[Je11o26]

Would love to see if everything lines up and your feedback on this kit. Been eyeing off the GTL myself but have been waiting to see what pepole think about the kits from the new supplier! Following

[Nick11]

Had a chance to do some work on it today. Started by shaping the headstock, used a coping saw and lots of sanding. There's a couple bumps in it where the coping saw got away from me a bit but it's largely pretty good and I'm happy with it. Also measured out the position for the bridge and have drilled two guide holes for the top and bottom screws ready to line it up when I have finished the body - hoping to head to Bunnings and get some wood filler tomorrow and make a start on finishing the body.




A couple notes in case they help other people because I didn't realise these things prior. I bought vintage style Gotoh bridge and tuners. The block in the bridge is actually like a millimetre deeper than the body of this kit so it pokes out the tiniest bit (I'm not sure if this may be brought back to flush once I float the bridge when setting up). I usually take the tremolo covers off on Strats so doesn't bother me too much. For a reference the block on the bridge I bought is 42mm so anything less than that should sit within the body. I also found that the standard bushings that come with the vintage tuners aren't big enough for the holes that are predrilled in the headstock - these are 10mm so will need to buy the 10mm adaptor bushings to be able to install the tuning pegs.

Finally I'll end with a question – does anyone know where I can get a mint green strat pickguard? RealParts are sold out and the only ones I can find are overseas and cost like $40 or something ridiculous like that to get shipped here

[Simon Barden]

Nice headstock shaping.

You mentioned 'wood filler' in your post above. Hopefully this was just a typo as you should be using 'grain filler' for the body. Wood filler is for filling holes and is coarser than grain filler. Grain filler, being finer, fills the pores better than wood filler. The smaller particles means it has less structural strength than wood filler, so you wouldn't want to use it to fill large holes. Horses for courses.